Migrants kidnapped and tortured en route to the UK | World | News

Migrants headed for the UK have been kidnapped, tortured and threatened with having organs removed unless their families paid a ransom promptly, media reports. Men from Iraqi Kurdistan were snatched by a militia in Libya and told their kidneys would be harvested unless their relatives paid almost £4,000.

The BBC reports that forced operations took place and at least one of the kidnapped migrants died. Migrants were being taken through Libya to the Mediterranean, but a row reportedly erupted over payment with Noah Aaron, an Iraqi-Kurd people smuggler.

He is in prison in France serving a 10-year sentence for money laundering and smuggling offences, the BBC reports.

Iraqi-Kurds make up a “significant” number of migrants who arrive in the UK via small boats across the English Channel.

In 2023, Iraq ranked fifth for the number of such arrivals, with the country identified as among the top five countries from where small boat migrants originate by thinktank, Chatham House.

Migrants are pushed to leave by a range of factors, including conflict, corruption and limited opportunities, according to Chatham House.

The BBC reports that over 300 migrants aiming to get to Britain last summer had been kidnapped and threatened by their captors.

They were imprisoned at a compound and told to pay $5,000 (£3,700) after Aaron failed to pay off a deal.

Former hostages reported being kept in small cells with scores of other migrants, sharing a single toilet and sleeping while sitting because there wasn’t room to lie down.

Some families paid the ransom and many of the hostages have since been released, the BBC reports.

Human rights organisation, Amnesty International, notes that Libya has been unsafe for refugees and migrants for a long time.

It reports abuses include unlawful killing, torture, rape and arbitrary detention in inhuman conditions overseen by state and non-state actors.